References

Britannica, T. E. (2006, September 28). Beta decay. Retrieved March 21, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/science/beta-decay#ref222436

In order to gain a better understanding of beta decay, which is a natural source of antimatter, I looked to this useful article which coherently and concisely explains the process. It begins by stating that there are three processes by which an unstable atomic nuclei would undergo a change of charge while remaining of constant mass. It sums up negative beta decay very quickly, briefly touching on the mechanism which occurs. The beta plus decay is what is very important information and is what was gained most from this article. It states that in this type of decay, a parent nucleus would decay into a neutron inside of a daughter nucleus, emitting a neutrino and antimatter in the form a positron. It then goes on to state that this type of emission, positron emission, was first observed by Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie in 1934. The article then explains the last type of decay, namely electron capture.

Chivers, T. (2011, June 07). Cern, Alpha and antimatter storage: Why antimatter should matter to us. Retrieved May 20, 2019, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/8560935/Cern-Alpha-and-antimatter-storage-why-antimatter-should-matter-to-us.html

This article written by Tom Chivers for the Telegraph provides a very broad range of information while also providing very interesting facts about certain specific areas. It begins with the statement that scientists have now managed to trap an antimatter atom and keep it alive for one thousand seconds. This is a massive improvement over the previous record which was one hundred seventy two milliseconds. It then gives a very brief history on the antimatter atom before stating that it was previously believed that only antimatter sub-atoms could be stored since they were charged, but it is now known that when cooled to extremely low temperatures, the antimatter atom can actually behave like a magnet. The article then goes on to explain what is the massive question that antimatter gave physicists to answer before discussing some the experiments and experimental techniques being used to research them. It wraps up by giving a brief synopsis.

European Organization for Nuclear Research. (n.d.). Antimatter. Retrieved March 21, 2019, from https://home.cern/science/physics/antimatter

This is a relatively short article published by the CERN, or the European Organization for Nuclear Research. It briefly discusses the basics of antimatter, stating that it is a substance which seems to be the opposite of mater in terms of charges. It discusses the founder of the idea, Paul Dirac, and how he managed to stumble across this finding. It was through his combining of special relativity and quantum theory that he managed to discover that it worked for both electrons which have a positive and negative energy. It goes on to discuss the early reaction of the scientific community towards this finding and the questions which this finding seemed to pose, such as: why is there much more matter than antimatter in the visible universe?” The concise article caps off by discussing the questions scientists seem to want to answer about this relatively unknown substance and the current experiments being conducted by the organization.

European Organization for Nuclear Research. (n.d.). The Antiproton Decelerator. Retrieved May 17, 2019, from https://home.cern/science/accelerators/antiproton-decelerator

This is an article created by the The European Organization for Nuclear Research, the actual owners and operators of the machine that is mentioned in the article. They define what they use the machine for, in order to create antimatter, specifically antiprotons to be used in research so that they can further understand antimatter. It discusses the process of which they create antiprotons. Beginning with the proton synchrotron, which is a seperate machine, and explicitly stating that the antiproton decelerator itself does not create the antimatter, it merely makes it studiable. They define the process of slowing down an atom and as they state, taming it, as “cooling” since you are removing kinetic energy from the atom by slowing it down. The article ends off with introducing a new decelerator which should be commissioned soon. It is called ELENA and the contributions it will make to antimatter study will be exponential.

European Organization for Nuclear Research. (n.d.). The matter-antimatter asymmetry problem. Retrieved May 17, 2019, from https://home.cern/science/physics/matter-antimatter-asymmetry-problem

This is an article created by the The European Organization for Nuclear Research. They are the organization which the scientists who are investigating the asymmetry problem are associated with. Furthermore, CERN is at the forefront of scientific, specifically physical science, research. They begin the short article by presenting the problem which has invited physicists to ask questions, the seemingly negligible presence of antimatter in the visible universe. The big bang should have created equal amounts, yet there is much more matter. According to the article, only one particle in one billion particles of antimatter managed to survive to this day. They believe an unknown entity in the early times of the universe caused the antimatter to no longer participate in natural production processes, making it cease to exist. They present an analogy of a coin spinning, saying that it had 50-50 odds of landing on heads or tails. However if there were many coins and someone were to roll a marble and it were to crash into the coins, then it would no longer be 50-50 chances, but the odds would be decided. There is a small chance that almost all of the coins would end up falling on the same face.

Halper, M. (2011, June 07). The practical uses of antimatter. Retrieved April 5, 2019, from https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-practical-uses-of-antimatter/

In this article, the specific applications of antimatter are discussed. The author begins by giving a brief description of the events which preceded the writing of the article, the capture of antimatter for sixteen minutes, and a concise explanation of what antimatter is. He then goes on to discuss the first application antimatter, Positron Emission Tomography, or PET scan for short. The functionality of this PET scan is discussed as well as how the information that doctors can get from it is interpreted. He then goes on to explain another possible application, which is in the construction and measurement field, of antimatter being able to place itself inside of the holes in metal crystal lattice structures. He then caps off the practical applications of this substance by putting forth the utilisation of antimatter in any field by the further study of positron emitting isotopes, which seem to be the key to all applications in the real world.

Holman, G. (n.d.). Space Weather. Retrieved May 20, 2019, from https://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/sftheory/spaceweather.htm

This article is a by a NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, official. NASA is responsible for learning more about space, the solar system, and how to protect us from naturally occuring dangers in space. The article discusses the topic of how do naturally occurring solar flares from the sun affect the Earth’s inhabitants, you and me. It begins by defining what a solar flare is, a concentrated amount of high energy particles and radiation that are potentially dangerous to humans. It goes to say that we as a population are actually protected from these solar flares by the Earth’s magnetic field and the atmosphere. The magnetic field of Earth can be weakened during a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when a CME, coronal mass ejection, reaches the Earth’s magnetic fields. During these storms, communications satellites can experience disruptions and there can be major electrical outages all around the world.

Institute of Physics. (n.d.). Antimatter. Retrieved March 21, 2019, from http://www.iop.org/resources/topic/archive/antimatter/index.html

This article goes in depth in terms of the discovery of antimatter, what it is, the applications of the technology, and the questions the discovery poses. It begins by discussing Paul Dirac and how he seemed to discover that there must be opposite atoms out there in the universe. It goes on to state that Dirac’s 1933 prediction was proved true in 1955 by Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain. The article also discusses the previously held notion that matter could not be created nor destroyed and how the discovery of antimatter reshaped this idea, since its contact with normal matter results in annihilation of both. It brings to light that while it is primarily created in the lab, there are natural sources of antimatter. It also discusses magnetic storage of the substance and closes off by briefly stating a few of the many applications of antimatter. While discussing the applications it also states the main problem other than storage that is preventing it from being used widely, the cost of creation.

Keane, R. L., & Zhang, W. (n.d.). BEAMED CORE ANTIMATTER PROPULSION: ENGINE DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION. Retrieved April 12, 2019, from https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1205/1205.2281.pdf

This scholarly paper focuses on the central ideas of beamed core antimatter propulsion. This paper goes into the specifics of an antimatter powered propulsion system and also brings to light the fundamentals of propulsion. From this source I gained the majority of the information used in speaking about beamed core propulsion application of antimatter. It goes in depth in discussing such a system, specifically regarding the exhaust speed of this conceptual idea. The researchers tell the readers what systems they have used in order to gain their data, which is a Monte Carlo simulation operating with a Geant4 toolkit provided by CERN. They bring to light the exhaust speeds and how the current simulation shows improved performance compared to previous simulations, such as an improvement from v ~ 0.33c to a newly obtained value of v ~ 0.69c, which is more than double of what was previous predicted. They also discuss the magnetic properties of such a system.

Rouse, M. (2016, May). What is matter? – Definition from WhatIs.com. Retrieved March 21, 2019, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/matter

This is a very general article used to gain the very basic information necessary for the first blog post of this project. It begins by discussing the idea of matter, what it is, the different types, and the origin of the idea. The article slowly shows the makeup of everything, beginning with sub-atomic particles such as the electron, proton, and neutron; and working its way up the ladder until eventually it reaches a compound. Rather than focusing on what antimatter is, this blog post was specifically used to garner an understanding of what antimatter is not, since matter and antimatter are binary opposites. This article specifically discusses mass-energy equivalence, bringing to light the concept that matter can be converted to energy in different chemical reactions using the equation E=mc^2. The article closes up by touching on the idea of antimatter, stating that scientists have discovered such a thing but refuses to go in depth.